


The Parenting Experiment

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: The High School Series [3]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Bullying, Chloe Sullivan is not your pawn, Chloe's Wall of Weird, Classroom Partners, Detention, F/M, Fake Baby, Fake Marriage, Fights, Flirting, Grumpy Lex Luthor, High School, Humor, Oliver is a trouble maker, Oliver thinks he's funny, Realistic versus unrealistic budgeting, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23977150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Her mouth dropped and she stared in horror at the fake baby as the teacher held it up, she glanced over at Oliver, “I'd rather deal with the dead frog again.”He glanced back at her, a grin spreading across his face as he shook his head. They’d been assigned as biology partners in fifth period, and just last week they’d had to dissect a dead frog. Neither one of them had been that thrilled with it. “At least it won’t smell as bad,” he pointed out.“Arguable,” she said, shaking her head a little.“Ms. Sullivan, Mr. Queen. Thanks for volunteering to work together this week.” Mr. Fisher smirked as he walked over to them and held out the baby doll for Chloe to take. “Congratulations, it’s a girl.”
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Clark Kent, Chloe Sullivan & Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan & Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen & Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: The High School Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728691
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

“Now, to wrap up our section on sex education, we’re going to be doing a project that I’m sure you’ve all been hearing about since you started taking this class.” Mr. Fisher smiled at them, although it was more of a grimace than a smile. “You’re all going to be assigned partners, and for the next week, you’ll be teamed up as a married couple with...yes, you guessed it, a child.”

“You mean an egg,” someone called out.

Chloe rolled her eyes and shook her head, she had heard all about it of course, but she had been hoping it wouldn’t actually happen. “Fun.” She muttered.

“Actually, thanks to Mr. Luthor’s generation donation, this year we were able to upgrade from eggs...” Mr. Fisher opened a large box on the floor and pulled out a very realistic looking baby doll, holding it up. “To actual synthetic babies.” He smirked at the class. “These babies are quite expensive. You actually have to feed them.” He pulled out a bottle and held it up. “They cry at random times.” He held the baby doll upside down and it began to wail. Loudly. “They cry if you mistreat them. You will also have to change their diapers because after you feed them? They actually leak fluids.”

Her mouth dropped and she stared in horror at the fake baby as the teacher held it up, she glanced over at Oliver, “I'd rather deal with the dead frog again.”

He glanced back at her, a grin spreading across his face as he shook his head. They’d been assigned as biology partners in fifth period, and just last week they’d had to dissect a dead frog. Neither one of them had been that thrilled with it. “At least it won’t smell as bad,” he pointed out.

“Arguable,” she said, shaking her head a little.

“Ms. Sullivan, Mr. Queen. Thanks for volunteering to work together this week.” Mr. Fisher smirked as he walked over to them and held out the baby doll for Chloe to take. “Congratulations, it’s a girl.”

Chloe arched her eyebrows and stared at the doll, then back at the teacher, “I have newspaper after school, can I just write a paper on this instead?”

“No can do, Ms. Sullivan. Everyone in class will be participating. In addition to caring for your infant, you’ll also be expected to come up with a plan to formulate and manage a household budget,” he told the class, looking around. “And you’ll have to keep a journal on your experiences with parenting, and with marriage, in addition to attending school.” He paused for a moment. “And just in case anyone has the idea to simply take out the battery from your infant, you should know that inside each of these dolls, there is a tiny computer system that keeps track of information. For instance, if you stuff your doll into a locker and let it cry for several hours? You won’t be passing this experiment.”

Sighing in defeat, Chloe reached for the doll and set it over the desk, staring down at it, “Great.”

* * *

By the time she made it to the cafeteria, the stupid doll was already crying. She didn’t even bother picking up anything to eat, just made her way over to the table where Clark, Lex and Lana were. “This is ridiculous.” She said, setting her crying purse on the table, then turning to Lex, “I’m going to kill your dad.”

He arched his eyebrows at the threat and then shifted his gaze to the purse. “Why is your purse wailing?”

“Because your dad decided to donate electronic babies to the school for the sex ed egg project,” she said, eyes narrowing, “of course he waited until you were a senior so you wouldn’t have to carry this thing around.” She accused, not that she really blamed Lex, but she was annoyed.

He couldn’t help but smirk. “So you’re stuck with a crying mechanical baby?”

“I should make you take care of it, for your last name alone.” She said, eyes narrowing.

“Oh, Chloe, let me see it!” Lana said, sitting up.

“It’s crying,” Clark said with a slight frown. “Are you sure you should carry it in your purse?”

Lex rolled his eyes. “It’s not like it’s going to suffocate, Clark.”

Chloe reached for the offending doll and held it out to Lana, “maybe it will suffocate, and since I’m obviously not fit to take care of it, maybe you should do it for me, Clark.”

He gave her a look. “It’s not my project,” he pointed out.

The doll continued to scream even as Lana tried rocking it like it was a real infant. “Maybe it needs to eat.” She glanced at Chloe again.

Chloe groaned at that and held her hand out for the doll, setting it on top of her bag and shoving the fake bottle against its mouth, “if it eats, it’s going to need a diaper change.”

Lana’s eyes widened a little at that and she stared down at the doll for a moment. “I guess it’s a pretty effective method of making kids think twice about having sex.”

“I think most high school students know the risk by the time they reach this class,” Chloe said, “this is completely unnecessary, how am I supposed to take care of it, do a budget, keep a journal, do my homework and everything for the Torch on top of it?”

“Aren’t you supposed to have a husband for this project?” Lana asked, eyebrows furrowing a little.

At that moment, a tray was set down in front of Chloe and Oliver dropped onto the seat beside her at the lunch table. “Honey, I brought you lunch.” His voice was light and teasing.

“I do.” Chloe told Lana unnecessarily, then turned to look at Oliver, surprised as she glanced over at his tray.

“You’re not getting any help, Chloe.” Lex said, eyes narrowing at Oliver. “Leave, Queen.”

Oliver arched his eyebrows at Lex. “Sorry, buddy. We’re married now. You’re gonna be seeing me around a lot more.” He turned his attention to Chloe once more. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got a variety.” He motioned toward the tray.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she told Oliver sincerely. Then she turned to Lex, “but we do have to work on the project so, instead of making both of you uncomfortable,” she turned back to Oliver, “why don’t we go up to the Torch?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want,” Oliver agreed, nodding a little. He rose to his feet once more, picking up the tray with one hand, and her purse with the other. “You just bring our daughter.” He grinned.

Chloe rolled her eyes at him but stood up too, picking up the doll before turning back to her friends, “see you later,” she said.

“Have fun!” Lana said brightly with a smile.

Lex scowled as he watched them go, shaking his head. “Poor Chloe. She’s gonna be stuck doing this whole project alone.”

“He seemed like he wanted to help,” Clark said with a shrug.

“It won’t last,” he informed Clark, rising to his feet.

“We will help if she needs it,” Lana said, “where are you going, Lex?”

“To study in the library. I just lost my appetite.”

Clark frowned and looked down, poking at his food.

“We’ll see you at the Talon after school,” Lana tried, smiling up at him.

“Whatever,” he muttered, dumping the contents of his lunch tray into the garbage and storming off.

* * *

Oliver followed Chloe down the hall and toward the Torch office, watching as she balanced the baby doll on one hand while she unlocked the door with her other hand. Then he followed her inside, setting the tray of food down on the nearest computer table and setting her purse on the small couch by the windows.

“Thanks,” she told him, setting the now silent doll on the couch too, “this is going to be awful.”

“I don’t know. It might not be so bad.” Oliver shrugged a little, moving across the room to look at the Wall of Weird.

“Why would you ever think that?” She asked, leaning against her desk and watching him.

He didn’t answer as his eyes moved from one article headline to another, his eyebrows arching a little higher. “What is all this?”

She pursed her lips together, hesitating. “The wall of weird.” She answered, watching him and cocking her head a little.

“And all this stuff happened here in Smallville?”

“And surrounding areas,” she nodded, “have you heard about the meteor shower?”

“A little.” He turned to look at her, expression curious.

“Well, those things are all connected to it.” She said, pursing her lips together.

“How?”

“Are you sure you want to hear about it?” She asked, moving to sit on the couch but keeping her eyes on him.

“Yeah, why not?” He cocked his head to the side and sat down backwards in one of the desk chairs.

“Well, my theory is that the meteor rocks from the shower can... do weird things to people, mostly temporarily, but not always.”

He arched his eyebrows and turned to look at the wall once more. “Things like make a girl eat an entire cow in one big bite?”

“Kind of like a huge snake would,” she nodded, making a face at the memory.

“Right.” He eyed her for a moment, then glanced back at the wall again.

“I know it sounds crazy,” she shrugged, “but I’ve seen some of it with my own eyes and if you stick around here long enough, you will too.”

He didn’t plan to be in town long enough to get involved with the crazy happenings, if they were true. But he didn’t say so. “So how should we work this out?”

“Well, I think we should alternate days,” she said, noticing the brush off but letting it go. Smallville and the Wall of Weird weren’t for everyone. “Since it’s supposed to cry at random, at least we will have a full night off every other night.”

Oliver nodded. “Sounds like a good idea. And I can work on the budget stuff if you want,” he offered.

“I can do the journal,” she nodded, “but we will have to exchange information for both.”

“Okay. I’ll jot some stuff down when I think of it.” He paused. “We could get together after school to work on stuff if you wanted.”

She hesitated a little, “You didn’t get detention?” She asked, nodding at his face. It was public knowledge that he and Brad McCoy had gotten into a really ugly fight after school the previous day. And the bruise on Oliver’s face was proof it had happened.

He paused, reaching up to rub his jaw gingerly. “Oh. Right. Almost forgot.” He shrugged. “Well, we could meet up somewhere after I’m done serving my time.”

She grinned a little at his choice of words and nodded, “I’ll probably still be here working anyway, what time will you be done?”

“It’s only an hour long. So I should be done by four,” he told her.

“Oh, I’ll definitely be here, then,” she said, nodding. “I guess we will need to figure out the budget thing first.”

“If they let us work on homework in detention, I’ll get started,” he suggested.

“Good idea,” she agreed, then paused, “no offense but... can you make a realistic budget?”

Oliver raised his eyebrows. “Define realistic.”

“Not a multi-millionaire budget.” She said, arching her eyebrows.

“A multi-billionaire budget,” he corrected her. “And that is realistic, considering.”

“I don’t think that’s what Mr. Fisher is looking for in the project, though,” she told him, “besides, technically, you are just the heir to the fortune, you don’t have control over all of it yet, do you?” She asked, even if she knew the answer, “don’t you have a limit you can spend?”

“I thought he was asking us to make a household budget based on who we are.” He raised an eyebrow. “And no, I don’t have control over it. Not until I’m eighteen.” And then he was out of there come hell or high water.

“Maybe he was,” she said, “so I guess we can assume how much money we would be making, or in your case, have and go from there.” Somehow, involving his fortune felt like cheating.

“All right.” He nodded a little. “Do you have a job?”

“Not a paying one,” she said, waving her hand around the room.

“Right.” Oliver glanced around. “So do you think we’re supposed to guess how much we’d be making if we were already in our future jobs?” Maybe he should go talk to Mr. Fisher.

“I don’t know. I'll take another look over the papers he handed us and see if I can figure it out, but I assume so, considering most of us either don’t have jobs or have low paying ones.”

“Definitely not enough money to raise a kid on,” he agreed, nodding a little. “I’ll read over them too. We’ll figure it out. Honey.” He couldn’t help but grin.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, “which brings us to the big question: who gets the bot tonight?”

Oliver glanced from her to the doll. “I’ll take it.”

Chloe blinked, surprised, “are you sure?” She asked, she definitely was not expecting him to offer.

“Sure, it’s half my project, too.” Not that he was all that concerned about the class, or his grade.

She nodded, “I’ll take it tomorrow, then,” she agreed as she stood up.

“All right. Sounds good.” He looked at her for a moment, then moved over to pick up the doll.

“Okay.” She watched him back, “where do you wanna meet after school?”

“Here?” he asked, raising his eyebrows once more.

“Sure. Like I said, I’ll be here anyway.” She told him.

“All right. I’ll see you after school then,” he answered with a small smile, tucking the fake baby bottle into his jeans pocket and heading for the door.

“Oliver?” Chloe called, frowning a little.

“Yeah?” He turned to look at her once more.

“You don’t want any of this?” She asked, motioning to the tray he had brought in.

Oliver cocked his head to the side. “No, I got it for you.”

“Oh...” she smiled a little, “thank you.”

He smiled back, nodding, then heading for the door once more before pausing again. “Wait. You forgot something.”

“What?” She asked, cocking her head.

“Well, my goodbye kiss.” He turned to face her again, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Chloe rolled her eyes, her cheeks feeling warm instantly even as she shook her head, “considering we live in separate houses, I think we’re more of a divorced couple,” she said, pulling her chair and sitting down, not entirely sure why that made her as uncomfortable as it had.

He frowned at that. “I think everyone in the class who was paired up lives in separate houses,” he pointed out.

“And considering most marriages end up in divorce anyway, sounds accurate,” she said, this time smirking at him as she felt like she had a little more control over the situation.

Oliver rolled his eyes at that. “Mine won’t,” he responded, heading for the door.

She shrugged at that and turned back to her computer, “good luck.” She muttered, not entirely sure what that whole conversation had been all about.

* * *

“This is absolutely ridiculous,” she said, setting down the calculator, “even if I got three articles every week on the Ledger, we would never be able to afford this budget.” She sighed in frustration, “we’d both have to get full time jobs.”

Oliver started to respond, but at that moment the doll began to cry. He reached out absently and picked it up, placing the bottle in its mouth. “That’s probably the point.”

“I know it is,” she shook her head, “we don’t need a week with that thing to figure it out.”

“Well, I agree, but I’m not the teacher.” He shrugged.

“I know,” she sighed a little, “this is just frustrating.”

Oliver looked over at her for a moment. “I can do the budget myself,” he offered.

“I can help,” she told him, shrugging slightly and looking down at the paper in her hand.

“It’s just...you seem pretty stressed about it.” His comment was casual, no hint of judgement to it.

“Just imagining how hard it must be in real life,” she admitted. Not so much for teenage parents, but for single parents like her dad.

Oliver watched her for a moment, then looked down at the doll in his arm. “I’m sure it is.”

“At least you know you’ll never have to worry about it,” she said gently, smiling a little.

“What, budgeting?” He glanced over at her again.

“Not having enough money to raise a kid if you have one.” She said.

“Yeah.” He nodded a little, studying her again. “Do you plan to? Have kids, I mean? Someday.”

“No.” She said almost instantly, “you?”

He was a little surprised at how quickly she answered, but he shrugged a little. “Maybe one day, yeah.”

“Oh,” she frowned a little at him but nodded and shrugged too.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, glancing at the budget he’d worked on in detention that she was holding in her hands. “So you don’t think it’s okay?”

“I think it’s really good with what we have,” she said, holding it back out to him.

“Cool.” He smiled a little at her, glancing around the office.

“What did you think of the journal?” She asked, arching her eyebrows.

“I think it’s great so far,” he assured her, handing it back to her.

“Thanks,” she smiled a little, taking the paper back and setting it on her desk.

Oliver looked down at the doll once more and noticed its eyes were now shut. “I guess it’s nap time,” he commented, bemused.

Chloe arched her eyebrows and looked down at it, “it would be cute if it wasn’t creepy...”

He chuckled at that. “It is a little creepy,” he agreed.

“Glad I’m not the only one who thinks so,” she grinned softly.

“I have a feeling everyone doing this project thinks so. Hopefully it doesn’t come to life and stab me in my sleep like Chucky.” He grinned.

“Sounds accurate,” she made a face, “maybe you need to lock it in your closet.”

“Then I won’t hear it if it starts crying,” he pointed out, chuckling. “Besides, it’s not that big. If it comes to life, I think I can probably take it.”

“I don’t know, it might be super strong,” she said, arching her eyebrows.

“It’d have to be.” He winked at her and looked down at the doll once more.

Chloe grinned a little and rolled her eyes, “so you’re super strong?”

“Naturally.” He flexed his free arm for her, grinning.

“Yeah, you look really manly with the doll in your arms.” She teased, relaxing against her chair.

“Ouch. The mocking. It hurts.” He smiled, glancing over at her once more.

“I think your ego is even stronger than your arms,” she smirked.

His eyes widened a little. “My ego?”

“You have a huge one, right?” She said, then paused, shaking her head, “that didn’t sound right.”

Oliver smirked involuntarily, giving her a look.

Chloe grinned and shook her head, looking away.

“I’m not so bad, really,” he told her, sitting forward in his chair a little.

“I’m not going to judge you based on what Lex thinks, if that’s what you’re saying,” she said, arching her eyebrows.

“I’m glad,” he said honestly, holding her gaze.

She smiled a little and shrugged, “not my style.”

“I knew I liked you for a reason.” He smiled back at her.

“You mean it’s not because of my good will on the first day at school?” She smiled.

“Well, that too,” he acknowledged, nodding.

Chloe grinned a little and shrugged, “I kinda figured you wouldn’t wanna be around me when you found out I worked for the Torch.”

“Well, I haven’t seen my name being libeled here yet, so I think we’re okay.”

“I won’t publish anything unless I have a real story to tell,” she said, shrugging a little.

“A journalist with integrity. A nice change.” He smiled.

She mock bowed her head, “there are some of us, just not at the Inquisitor.”

He grinned at that, nodding a little and glancing up when his cell phone began to ring. He picked it up off the table and glanced at the caller ID, making a face.

Chloe arched her eyebrows curiously, but looked away a second later.

He put it on silent and tucked it into his pocket a moment later, reluctantly standing up. “I should be getting back to to the Luthor’s.”

“Right,” she nodded a little, “thanks for doing all the budget stuff.”

“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told her with a wink before heading for the door.

“Bye,” she said, smiling softly as she sat back.

He glanced at her once more before disappearing out of the Torch’s office.

Chloe let out a breath then turned back to her computer. Maybe the project wouldn’t be completely terrible.


	2. Chapter 2

On Saturday morning, Chloe drove over to the Luthor mansion. This was their only weekend with the doll so she and Oliver finished they needed to finish up their projects as much as possible so that they would have their classroom presentation ready for class the following weekend. She really hoped Lex wouldn’t see her there and make things uncomfortable, but she knew she had to finish the project regardless of Lex, so she was trying not to focus on that. And hope he was at Clark’s.

With a deep breath, she reached for the door and rang the bell, then waited.

A moment later, the door opened to reveal one of the wait staff, who recognized her and smiled, nodding in greeting. “Miss Sullivan. Come on in.”

“Thanks,” she smiled as she stepped into the house, “is Oliver here?”

“He is. He’s in his room.” She motioned toward the stairs. “Second door on the left.”

“Oh,” Chloe arched her eyebrows, glancing at the stairs hesitantly, “thank you.” She had no problems being in Clark’s room, or even Pete’s. But somehow being in Oliver’s room sounded a lot more intimidating. Still, she smiled at the woman, then started up the stairs.

Once she found the closed door, she straightened, then knocked.

“Come in,” he called, as he finished changing the doll’s diaper.

Chloe opened the door slowly, stepping inside then paused, smirking when she saw him with the diaper, “ah, dirty work.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her, returning her smirk with one of his own. “But somebody has to do it.”

“Better you than me,” she said, walking further into the room and looking around. It was huge. Not that she was surprised, but still, she could probably fit all of her room in about a fifth of this.

“Do anything fun last night?” he asked as he set the doll down on his bed and dropped down onto the edge of it himself.

“Yeah, real wild night.” She said, walking over to look out the window. “Casablanca was showing at the Talon. Ended super late too, at nine.”

Oliver raised his eyebrows. “Sounds thrilling.”

“I can’t believe you missed it,” she smirked, turning to face him again. “What did you do?”

He shrugged a little. “Just hung out here.” And got lectured by Lionel for getting into a fight earlier in the week, and getting detention for it, which he’d managed for the older man not to find out for the first two days of the three day punishment, but apparently the school’s principal had called to let him know.

“You’re not grounded, are you?” Chloe asked, frowning a little.

“Well, I’m not grounded from doing school work,” he answered.

“So you really are grounded?” She asked, her eyes widening and her voice lowering.

Oliver raised his eyebrows. “Apparently I’m sullying the Luthor’s good name.”

“Wow...” she said quietly, “because of the fight?”

“Good guess. Although I think it was more because of the three day detention than the actual fight itself.”

“Has he done that before?” She asked, cocking her head a little.

“No, but it’s early in the school year,” Oliver said with a small smirk.

“He does it to Lex, too.” She said quietly, “Lex doesn’t tell us, of course, but all of the sudden, he won’t even show up to hang out at the farm.”

“Well, Lionel’s a real peach,” he answered, shrugging and looking at her for a moment before standing up. “We should probably get started.”

“Yeah,” she arched her eyebrows, a little worried now, “do you think you’re safe here, though?” She asked in a whisper.

He paused at that. “Yeah. He’ll get used to me eventually. Unless my plan to get him to kick me out works.” He flashed her a smile.

“And where would you go if he did kick you out?” She asked, frowning, “we both know your allowance doesn’t cover rent.”

His smile slipped a little when she remained serious. “Boarding school, I guess. I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Maybe it would be better for you to stick around for a little while longer,” she said with a shrug.

“Why? Would you miss me?” He arched an eyebrow.

“Because even if this isn’t your ideal situation, it’s still probably better than being by yourself in a boarding school,” she said with a shrug.

He didn’t look convinced, but he pursed his lips, shrugging a little. “Okay, so I finished up the budget stuff.” He moved over to the desk in the corner of the room and picked up a couple pieces of paper. “And I jotted down some stuff we can add to the journal.”

“Okay,” she looked down at the papers and reached for some in her purse, ignoring the tightness in her chest. She couldn’t help but feel bad for him. She had been little when her mom left and she had always had her dad around. Not only was he an orphan, but he didn’t even have a place he felt at home at. “I added a lot of stuff to the journal too,” she said quietly as she pulled a stack of paper from her bag.

“I’m sure it’s great,” he told her with a small smile.

“You can keep that if you want,” she offered, taking his portion from him, “I’ll edit this in.”

“Oh. Sure.” He nodded, pulling his chair out from his desk and then glancing over at his bed. He motioned her toward it. “It’s more comfortable.”

“I can do that later,” she said, shrugging a little then sliding the papers in her bag and taking the offered seat on the bed.

Oliver nodded again, letting out a breath. “Well, the good news is I managed to get about four and a half hours of sleep,” he said wryly.

Chloe wrinkled her nose, “that bad?”

“At least it’s only a couple more days, right?” He yawned.

“Yeah,” she nodded, “and you can rest tonight. It’s still a mystery to me how you’re managing this without coffee.”

He chuckled. “Meditation and yoga.”

She paused at that, “are you serious?”

“Don’t tell anyone. It’s a secret,” he told her, raising his eyebrows.

“I won’t,” she smiled a little then shook her head, “no one would believe me anyway.”

“Oh, I’m sure someone would.”

“Well, maybe people who know you better,” she shrugged a little.

“Okay, so maybe no one would believe it.”

“Right,” she smirked a little, rolling her eyes even if she wasn’t entirely sure he was joking.

He smiled faintly and looked down at the papers she’d handed him, starting to read over the journal entries she’d written.

Chloe watched him for a moment then shrugged and reached or the budget, going over it too. She could go home, really, but she figured he could use some company.

“This is good,” he told her after a few moments, glancing over at her.

“And I’m surprised how much more you managed to move around on this one,” she said, arching her eyebrows. “The car thing was a good move.”

“Guess I learned something from those business courses at Excelsior.”

“You definitely have a way with numbers,” she said, sincerely impressed.

Oliver smiled at that. “Thanks. And you have a way with words.”

She smiled back at him and nodded, “thanks.”

“Personally, I think we have this whole parenting thing down,” he told her with a grin, leaning back in his chair. “We’re gonna get an A.”

“Well, you have the parenting thing down,” she said, “we don’t know what that chip will say when this is over.”

“True. But I think we’re doing fine.”

“As far as a fake baby goes, I think we’ll be okay,” she nodded, “when you have your real kids, you can let me know how it compares.”

He couldn’t help but smile a little at that. “I’ll try and remember that.”

“Appreciate it,” she grinned a little, sliding the papers back in her bag.

Oliver watched her for a moment, his head cocked to the side. “So what are things like for you?” he asked curiously.

“What do you mean?” She asked, turning to look at him.

“You know, family.” It had occurred to him on more than one occasion the last few days that he barely knew anything about her, except that she was one of the smartest girls at Smallville High, that she was an aspiring journalist, and that she didn’t want kids.

“Oh,” she pursed her lips together, “well, I live with my dad and I have a really small family. Mostly just see my cousin.”

Oliver paused at that, recalling her comment a couple days before about how most marriages ended up in divorce. “You guys get along well?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “he works a lot, so, we usually just hang out in the weekends.”

“Oh. I hope this isn’t taking up too much Dad time.” He frowned a little.

“Oh, no,” she shook her head, “he’s out bowling with his friends from work, it’s about the only thing they can do around here.”

He relaxed once more, nodding. “Okay, good.”

“Are you doing anything today?” She asked.

He shook his head. “Like you said, there’s not much to do around here.” Plus the whole grounding thing put a damper on things.

“You have a pool, a gym, a pool table and an entire castle to explore,” she said, cocking her head, “this place alone has ten times more entertainment than Smallville.”

He raised his eyebrows a little. “Well, you’re welcome to stick around if you want to hang out.”

“You mean you are willing to let me snoop around?” She asked, arching her eyebrows back at him.

Oliver grinned. “Sure, why not?”

“Awesome,” she brightened, “I’ve tried to so many times before.”

“Well, now you have an official open invitation.” He couldn’t help smiling at the look on her face.

“And now you can pay me back the favor and show me around,” she grinned, standing up.

“Fair enough,” he agreed, also rising to his feet. He set the papers on his desk.

She pulled her bag from over her shoulders and set it over the bed, “can I leave this here?”

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded a little and headed toward the door.

Chloe slid her phone into her back pocket then followed him out of the room, “where are we going first?”

“The pool,” he told her with a small smile.

“Have you used it since you moved here?” She asked, cocking her head.

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

“You should consider, it will only get warmer.” She told him, looking around the hallway as they walked through it.

“How warm does it get around here?” he asked curiously.

“Depends on the year, we usually have some bad heatwaves that we hit over a hundred every day for a while.”

His eyes widened a little and he stared at her. “Seriously?”

“Yep,” she nodded, “which is why you should consider yourself very lucky to have a pool.”

“Hell, you can come use it if you want,” he told her, raising his eyebrows.

“Thanks,” she said, shaking her head a little and smiling, “I usually stick with AC in the summer.”

“You don’t like swimming?” he questioned.

“Never really go, sometimes we go to the lake, but it’s usually a once every summer event.” she commented.

“Do you not know how?” He glanced at her sideways as they walked down the corridor.

“To swim?” She frowned then shook her head, “I know how, basics, but I’m not drowning.”

“Interesting.” He glanced at her again, arching his eyebrows.

“What is?” She asked, “that I can swim?”

“That you can, but you don’t, and it gets in the hundreds around here in the summers.”

“You get used to it after a while,” she told him, “I’m sure you will.”

“But why?” he asked, shaking his head a little.

“Have better things to do?” She said, shrugging. That and the fact that she didn’t look like Lana, but he was a guy, he didn’t need to hear that.

“In a hundred degree heat?”

“Only seventy in the AC,” she smirked, arching her eyebrows.

He smiled at that. “Point.” He opened the door to the pool house and stepped inside.

Chloe arched her eyebrows, looking around the area, “wow,” she murmured, the pool stretched all through the covered part and made its way outside. On the inside there were also two Jacuzzi's, “this is amazing.”

“See? This is why you should come hang out when it’s hot outside,” he teased.

“I’m sure Lex would be really happy if he saw me hanging out with you in his pool.” She smirked.

His smile faded a little. “Right.” He nodded. “So this is the pool, and the Jacuzzi's.”

“Looks pretty awesome,” she said, nodding as she looked around, “I’m sure you’ll be using it a lot. I don’t think Lex and Lionel do.”

Good to know. He filed that information away for later. Maybe he could throw a pool party without fear of either of the Luthors attending.

“What else have you found around here that could be interesting?” She asked.

“The study,” he told her. “But it’s pretty much the belly of the beast.”

“Yeah. I’ve been there,” she nodded, “that and the ballroom.”

“I didn’t even know there was a ballroom,” he admitted, raising his eyebrows.

“Then I don’t suppose you know how to find your way to the secret dungeons?” She asked, arching her eyebrows.

He blinked a couple of times. “That’s a joke, right?”

“Yeah,” she grinned, “but this is a castle, shouldn’t it have dungeons and hidden passages?”

Oliver cocked his head to the side. “I never really thought about it...”

“Let me know if you stumble upon anything.” She told him.

“You really think this place has secret passages?”

“In my imagination,” she nodded, “it does.”

He smiled a little at that. “I think you have a good imagination.”

“Thanks,” she grinned a little, “where to next?”

“The library?” he suggested. She seemed like a library kind of girl.

“Yeah?” She said, arching her eyebrows, “is it like the one in Beauty and the Beast?”

“Uh, I have no idea?” He raised his eyebrows, too.

“So either you’ve never been to the library here or you’ve never seen Beauty and the Beast, either way, it’s a crime.”

“Well, I know where the library is, I just haven’t been in it. And no, I haven’t seen Beauty and the Beast, either.” He smirked a little.

“Criminal,” she teased, grinning as she followed him back inside the mansion.

“I don’t really watch chick flicks,” he said, mostly to get a rise out of her.

“Beauty and the Beast is a classic and for the record, I don’t watch them either,” she smirked.

“Well, now I’m just intrigued. What do you watch? Aside from Beauty and the Beast.”

“I don’t watch much,” she admitted, “usually my friend Pete will impose whatever movie marathon upon the rest of us. I’m more computer than TV oriented.”

“Gotcha.” He nodded a little and led the way down the hall toward the library, opening the doors and stepping aside so she could go in.

She followed him inside, her eyes widening a little, “okay, it’s actually pretty close.”

“Yeah?” He glanced at her sideways, raising his eyebrows, smiling a little at the look on her face.

“Yeah,” she nodded, stepping further into the room, looking around at the glass panels and the rows of books, “probably another place that never gets used.”

“Not true. I use this place frequently.”

Oliver’s smile faded instantly as he spotted Lex coming around the corner of the library and into view.

“Lex,” Chloe greeted, arching her eyebrows and smiling a little. She definitely did not expect him to be there, “good to hear it’s not going to waste.”

“Definitely not. What are you doing here?” There was a hint of suspicion in his voice and he eyed Oliver before turning his attention back to her.

“I came to get the bot from Oliver,” she said sincerely, “and we needed to finish up the project.”

“And get a tour,” Oliver added.

“If Chloe wanted a tour, she could have asked me for one. Considering we’re actually friends and this is my home.” Lex gave Oliver a withering look before moving closer to Chloe.

“I thought you would be at the farm,” she told Lex, stepping between the two of them, “and anyway, I should go.”

“No, you should stay. We can hang out,” Lex suggested.

Lex had never invited her to hang out before, even if they hung out when Clark was around, they never did just the two of them. He was obviously trying to piss Oliver off. “Aren’t you going to see Clark?”

“No, he’s busy today,” he told her. “Come on, you can check out the library. We’ve got a ton of stuff you’d love.”

“Thanks,” she told him, then shook her head, “but I rather not be used as a pawn for you guys to piss each other off. I’m gonna grab my stuff and head out and hope you don’t kill each other when I leave.”

Oliver raised his eyebrows at that, looking a bit awestruck by her remark.

Lex’s eyes narrowed and he glared at her for a moment before disappearing into the library and shutting the doors none-too-quietly behind him.

Chloe rolled her eyes at his reaction then headed out of the library and back to Oliver’s room to grab her purse.

“Chloe, wait.” He followed close behind her.

She glanced over at him but didn’t stop walking. She knew he hadn’t done anything, but it was still annoying.

He frowned, still following her til they reached his room. “I wasn’t trying to use you as a pawn against Lex.”

“I know you invited me to that party a couple weeks ago to piss him off,” she said, picking up her purse.

“I invited you to that party because I wanted to make sure you got invited,” he responded.

“And that’s why you chose to do it during lunch and in front of him?” She asked, smirking, “look, it doesn’t matter, okay? I think you’re both interesting to hang out with, but I’m not going to get caught in the middle of whatever it is you hate each other for.”

Oliver fell silent at that, looking away for a moment. “Fair enough.”

Chloe nodded a little and reached for the doll, “I’ll email you the journal when I finish it.” She told him, heading for the door.

“I’ll see you at school Monday.”

“See you,” she called, glancing at him over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall.

He rubbed his hands over his face before moving to shut his bedroom door and then flopping down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling blankly.

* * *

Theirs was one of the last presentations for the class. Chloe hadn’t been surprised that most, if not all budgets so far were looking far worse than their own, of course it made sense, considering Oliver’s income was much higher than any high school students with the exception of maybe Lex.

She swapped the sheets on the projector and looked up, “this is the final budget we could come up with.”

“Bullshit,” one of the guys from the back of the room called, “Richie Rich could afford way more than that.”

Oliver arched an eyebrow. “Richie Rich isn’t in control of all his money til his eighteenth birthday,” he said wryly, folding his arms across his chest.

“Boys,” Mr. Fisher interrupted, “continue, Ms. Sullivan.”

Chloe rolled her eyes at the boy, she couldn’t see who it was because of the projector light, “this is based on both our allowances and with some added income of the work I occasionally do for the Ledger.”

“As you can see, we’ve budgeted for the least expensive apartment we could find listed in Smallville,” Oliver said, leaning back against the blackboard. “Even with our combined earnings, we’re still pretty far under the poverty line.”

“You don’t know poverty!” Someone else yelled.

“Enough,” Mr. Fisher said.

His jaw tightened ever-so-slightly and he pinned the guy with a cold stare as he continued. “So in this scenario, were we to actually be married and have a kid, we’d still be struggling for the next year or so.”

Chloe nodded a little, “the only way we would have been able to make it would be with loans and credit cards, or living at home.”

“Only one of you has a home.”

“If you have something you’d like to talk about after class with me, I’d be glad to meet you in the hallway,” Oliver told the guy.

“That won’t be necessary,” Mr. Fisher said, turning on the lights, “thank you for your presentation Ms. Sullivan, Mr. Queen.”

Oliver picked up his papers and headed back to his desk to sit down, staring intently at the guy who’d kept interrupting their presentation.

Chloe left the doll on the desk then joined him, glaring toward the back of the class then turning to Oliver, “you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he answered, not looking at her.

She shook her head then looked back again, making a mental note to look into Marcus, who was now smirking at her, and checking what kind of dirt she could publish on him.

A few minutes later the bell rang and Oliver gathered his books and things into his bag and rose to his feet.

“Oliver?” She called when he started to leave.

He turned to face her once more, raising his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“What are you doing?” She asked, watching as Marcus started toward them.

“Class is over? I’m leaving class.”

“Thought you wanted to chat, Richie,” Marcus said as he bumped into Oliver.

“You seem to be the chatty one here,” he responded, narrowing his eyes at the slightly larger guy.

“And as you can see, I have no problem telling you to your face,” he stepped closer, “and taking your money when I’m done knocking you unconscious.”

“Well, you can certainly try,” Oliver answered, dropping his bag on the ground once more. Without hesitation, he reached out and shoved the other man backwards several feet. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Her eyes widened and she stepped forward, “Oliver, don’t!” She knew he was still grounded about the fight he had gotten into just the previous week, but apparently, it was too late.

Marcus grabbed Oliver’s jacket and pulled him even as he stumbled backward, “you can’t take what I’ve got.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” he muttered, slamming his fist into the other man’s gut.

That caused him to bend over and let go of Oliver, but a moment later, he pushed his head against Oliver’s gut.

“Boys!” Mr. Fisher shouted.

Oliver stumbled backwards but reached down, his hands resting on Marcus’ shoulders and without warning he let himself fall to the ground, propelling Marcus over him and headlong into the floor. He quickly got to his feet, glaring at the other man.

“Stop,” Chloe called, grabbing Oliver’s arm.

Marcus groaned as he hit his head hard against the floor.

He looked at Chloe, his eyes dark and filled with anger. “He started it.”

“You could have ignored him.” She told him.

Principle Reynolds appeared on the doorway at that moment, “what is going on here?”

He pulled his arm away from Chloe and turned his attention to the principal. “Guess I’ve got more detention to serve,” he said coldly, moving past him, and leaving his bag behind.

Chloe sighed a little and shook her head, watching as Mr. Fisher and the Principle left after helping Marcus up, and took him with them. She looked down at Oliver’s things and picked them up, she’d just bring it by for him later. And maybe tell him how stupid he was for letting Marcus bait him like that.

* * *

“Hey, did you hear? Queen got himself suspended.” Lex smirked as he sat down at the cafeteria lunch table that afternoon, looking more than a little satisfied.

“I saw the fight,” Chloe said, sighing, “Marcus provoked him.”

He snorted. “He’s easily provoked.”

“It wasn’t entirely his fault, Lex.” She told him, shaking her head.

“What happened?” Clark asked.

Lana glanced from Lex to Chloe, frowning a little. “How did he provoke him?”

“We had our budget presentation,” she explained, “and he kept making comments about Oliver being rich and not having a home.”

Lex rolled his eyes, but didn’t respond, choosing instead to focus on eating his lunch.

“Marcus has always been a jerk,” Lana said, frowning even more.

“And he came up to Oliver after class,” she went on, “I’m sure Mr. Fisher gave the principal all the details so if you ask me, suspension is a little unfair.”

“It’s just in-school suspension. He’ll survive, Chloe,” Lex remarked, shaking his head.

She looked over at Lex and nodded, “I’m sure he will, but I’m just saying it wasn’t entirely his fault.”

“I don’t get why you’re so quick to want to defend him.”

“Because I saw what happened, Lex. And because I don’t think he’s as bad as you want him to be.” She said sincerely.

“He tormented me for years, Chloe.” He stared hard at her. “And he killed someone.”

The table went absolutely silent.

She blinked at that, arching her eyebrows and sitting up, “what do you mean he killed someone?” She asked, lowering her voice.

Lex was tense, and he leaned forward. “I had a friend at Excelsior. His name was Duncan. Oliver used to torment both of us.” His jaw tightened. “One day he jumped us, and started wailing on Duncan. A couple of his buddies held me back so I couldn’t help. Duncan managed to get away from him.” He was silent for a moment. “But he ran right into the street without realizing it.”

“Oh my god,” Lana whispered, her eyes wide.

Chloe stared at Lex, blinking a couple of times and shook her head, “That’s horrible.”

He looked down, reaching out and picking up his bottle of water. “Yeah. So every time you start to think maybe he’s not so bad, try and remember that my friend is dead because of him.” 

She watched him for a moment then shook her head a little before standing up, “I’ll see you later.” She said, grabbing her things then heading for the door. Not only did she have to find Oliver to give him his things, but she also had to find out who Duncan was and exactly what had happened to him.

* * *

Oliver sat in the little cubicle just outside the school’s office, staring at the blank paper in front of him that was supposed to be filled with sentences that read 'I will not start anymore fights on school grounds.' But he hadn’t started writing, and he wasn’t going to. Instead, he found himself doodling a picture of a bow and arrow set with his pen, not hearing the footsteps that approached him.

“Oliver?” Chloe called after standing next to him for a few seconds and not getting his attention.

He glanced up, blinking a couple of times. “Hey.”

“You left your stuff in class,” she said, dropping his bag next to him.

Oliver pursed his lips, glancing down at the bag and then up at her once more. “Thanks.”

She nodded a little, “you do know it was stupid to let him get to you like that, right?”

“It gets me outta classes for the next week.” He shrugged.

“And in trouble with Lionel.” She said, arching her eyebrows. Considering she hadn’t done any research yet and the fact that he was probably a murderer, having this conversation with him was making her a little nervous.

“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.” He’d had enough experience with it over the years. He looked back down at his paper.

She frowned at that and took a step back, “I’m sure you can, you just might want to consider the way you’re doing it.”

“And what do you suggest?”

“Don’t let people get to you so easily.” She frowned.

He glanced back at her, studying her for a moment. “It’s not that simple.”

“Maybe you could try harder,” she said, arching her eyebrows.

“For what?” he asked, arching his eyebrows back at her. “Why bother?”

“So maybe you could leave here without being in trouble,” she said, “and maybe you could make some actual friends while you’re still here.”

He rubbed a hand over his face, shrugging a little and looking at his paper for a moment. “Marcus is an idiot.”

“Exactly. So why bother with him?”

“Because maybe it’ll make him think twice before he opens his mouth about shit he doesn’t understand.”

Chloe sighed a little and shook her head, “and maybe it shouldn’t matter to you when he talks about things he doesn’t understand.”

“Maybe it shouldn’t,” he agreed with a slight nod.

She watched him for a moment, “good luck with your suspension,” she said, then turned to head back to the Torch.

“Hey, Chloe.”

Pausing, she turned back to look at him.

“You did a good job with the presentation.”

“Thanks,” she said, arching her eyebrows a little, “so did you.”

“Have a good week.” He looked down at the desk once more.

“You too,” she said, watching him for a moment before walking away. She might know more about him now, both from spending time with him and from what Lex had told her, but she still had absolutely no idea what to make of him.


End file.
